(MENAFN- ACCESSWIRE) LONDON, UK / ACCESS Newswire / November 7, 2025 / Black Book Research today announced the publication of The 2026 European Radiology Information Systems (RIS) Purchasing Playbook, an evidence-based guide for hospital networks, outpatient radiology, and regional imaging programs navigating RIS, enterprise imaging, and AI decisions for 2026-2027. The report distills benchmarks from 543 qualified participants across Europe and translates them into measurable procurement targets, vendor positioning, country-level dynamics, and a ready-to-use RFP scoring toolkit.

The results are reported with a ±3.5% margin of error at the 95% confidence level.

"Europe's imaging buyers aren't procuring a PACS' anymore, they're procuring time-to-diagnosis, cross-site capacity, and governable AI at scale," said Doug Brown, Founder of Black Book Research. "This Diagnostic Imaging IT Playbook gives executives and radiology leaders a concrete way to select vendors on outcomes: latency SLOs, report throughput, exchange success, AI auditability, resilience, and cost-to-serve."

What's inside the Playbook

Executive Summary & Market Truths (2026): why standards-first interoperability (IHE XDS-I/XCA-I, DICOMweb, HL7-FHIR), cloud-operable stacks, structured reporting, governable AI, and outcome-based managed services are now non-negotiable. (pp. 4-5)

Vendor Deep Dives: architecture maps, where each vendor wins, quantifiable value levers to contract, operating model, strengths/watchouts, and pointed RFP questions for Dedalus, Philips, GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthineers, Sectra, Agfa HealthCare, and CGM/VISUS. (pp. 14-24)

Country Heatmaps & Buying Dynamics: shortlists and procurement patterns across UK & Ireland, DACH, France, Nordics, Benelux, Italy, Iberia, Austria, Switzerland, and CEE. (pp. 26-30)

RFP Toolkit: a weighted feature matrix, scoring template, AI governance checklist (EU-ready), and a 4-6 week pilot script with go/no-go gates. (pp. 30-35)

Market Outlook (2026-2027): adoption curves for FHIR, DICOMweb, structured reporting, AI orchestration, cloud DR, and cybersecurity; plus ten predictions and KPIs that matter. (pp. 43-50)

2026 trends the report surfaces

• Standards-first interoperability is table-stakes (IHE XDS-I/XCA-I, DICOMweb, FHIR) with measurable SLOs for image liquidity

• Cloud-operable enterprise imaging moves from pilot to default consideration; zero-footprint access and DR evidence matter.

• Structured reporting + workflow automation unlock throughput and close the loop on follow-ups.

• AI must be governable: platformized deployment, model registry, performance monitoring, bias checks, audit trails, and rollback. (pp. 4-5, 32-34, 45-46)

• Managed services win where skills are thin - contracts measured on uptime, latency, report TAT, not ticket counts. (pp. 4-5, 46-47)

Top-rated & best-fit vendors (by use case)

Overall edge for 2026 procurement: Dedalus - RIS-anchored orchestration, in-pane structured reporting, pragmatic interoperability, and outcome-tied managed services. (pp. 36-40)

Cloud PACS performance & open AI: GE HealthCare (pp. 18-19, 39); Philips for cloud cadence & reporting UX (pp. 17-18, 39).

Cross-discipline enterprise (radiology + cardiology + pathology): Siemens Healthineers (pp. 20-21, 39-40).

Regional/national stability & cyber backbone: Sectra (p. 22). Archive/viewer standards-forward: Agfa HealthCare (p. 23). DACH-centric

Country-specific highlights (where the market is moving)

UK & Ireland: cloud + shared worklists normalize; frameworks bundle AI & managed services.

Germany (DACH): KHZG accelerates standards-first enterprise imaging with strict DR runbooks; vendor neutrality prized.

France: Ségur "Imagerie" funds RIS modernization & exchange conformance through 2027; private radiology leads.

Netherlands & Nordics: high digital maturity; insistence on clean IHE conformance, zero-footprint diagnostics, and green ops.

Belgium/Luxembourg: early public-cloud EI adopters with latency-aware routing & DR guarantees.

Italy, Iberia, CEE, Austria, Switzerland: region-scale consolidation, hybrid cloud DR, consent-aware integration, multilingual access, and cost-controlled migrations.

Unique data & buyer tools you can use today

• Feature Matrix (weighted 100%) and Scoring Template to copy into tenders; emphasizes Interoperability & Openness (20%), Diagnostic Workspace & UX (15%), AI Governance (15%), RIS Order-to-Read (10%), Cloud & Performance (10%), etc. (pp. 30-32)

• AI Governance Checklist (EU-ready) covering intended use, bias & drift monitoring, human-in-the-loop, rollback, audit export to SIEM, and safety incident response. (pp. 32-34)

• Pilot Script (4-6 weeks) with go/no-go gates: baseline, structured reporting + AI on, cross-site & DR test, business case. (p. 35)

• Ten Predictions for 2026-2027: structured reporting becomes default; AI orchestration consolidates; DR becomes a go-live gate; green IT metrics enter imaging contracts. (p. 49)

The 2026 European Radiology Information Systems Purchasing Playbook is available today from Black Book Research at or contact

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